Re: Melbourne route 70 tram

["Michael Walker" <walker@hotkey.net.au>]

>I think it was abolished because the time-based ticketing system meant
>(means) that you can just transfer trams at the Swan St-Chapel Street
>corner. Ditto with why the North Richmond to St Kilda Beach service was
>dumped on weekdays, you just change trams at Balaclava Road.


True but unless the services run frequently enough to offer a quick
interchange, people are often put off them. On the other hand, if a direct
service is run it should attract more patronage to the overall system than
just the other services. I suppose the logic is that not enough people would
use the direct service over the change of trams service to make it worth
while holding up traffic at the corner where it turns and to pay for the
extra trams to ru the service. Although given the cheaper costs of running a
tram now they are all driver only and the fact that the tram services seem
to get ever less frequent, it may start to be worth while. Anyway, pure
speculation.

>Though why the 79 runs on Sundays but not other days is a mystery to me.
>Anybody know?

I always wondered this, doesn't the 79 also run Saturday afternoons after
about 12.30pm? Never did work out the logic of running one route during the
week and another during the period when the shops used to be closed (after
1pm Sat. and all day Sun.)